Home Improvement

Daidraco

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The research I did makes it sound like Ceramic chips a bit "too easy" and Porcelain is for high traffic areas. Looking online, the nicer looking ones look like wood but you would still be able to tell its tile. Im probably just going to go with Bamboo, just wanted to see what others thought cause the Foreman that I work with works with a lot of Realtor's that tend to know their shit.
 

Intrinsic

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I'll offer a slightly different perspective from when I remodeled my 1st floor that included kitchen, living room, 1/2 bath, hallway. It was initially split tile / hardwood between the kitchen and living areas. When the water damage ruined the hardwood it "had to" all be replaced. I tested a few different surfaces and eventually went with LVT. Admittedly it isn't ceramic tile or the exact materials being discussed. The look didn't end up being the problem.

It was the feel. Maybe it was 40 years of acclimating to what certain surfaces feel like under my feet either barefoot, socks, or shoes. The feel of the LVT couldn't match the hardwood or the tile. I found it uncomfortable to walk on. Not for any, I guess, real reason other than it wasn't what I was used to. It looked wonderful, was easy to clean, durable. Even with the cork backing and a new subfloor. Of course, it also handled hot and cold different than the original hardwood and tile so that kept things strange. It also made the house sound different. It was very open floor plan so most of the surface was the floor.

Just small kind of irregularities that I wasn't used to. If I had to do it over again, for a personal space, it would be hardwood, tile, or carpet depending on the area. Probably. Never say never. For a rental or a flip house, no one would know the difference because they have no history or basis. It certainly didn't hurt my house selling in like 5 days with multiple offers.
 

Haus

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My current gate situation I need to fix. I knew when we bought the house it would have to be replaced so glad we got a year and a bit out of it. Not scared about doing it myself but have never done a gate. There's about an 11" drop from post to post. I guess the point was to maintain the fence line around the corner but it is somewhat irritating that it slopes down like that.

I may be able to keep the 4x4 of the gate since that'd be some of the most expensive parts. If nothing else I'd try to rebuild it with the fence frame level then just figure out a slope of the pickets. They tried to angle the frame. I guess both ways works? It just seems easier to cut the frame at 90s. But what do I know about gates. My red would keep the two doors, I just didn't break the red line, sorry. And the additional brace pieces.

View attachment 431606View attachment 431607

View attachment 431608
OK, what you need here to do your wood frame idea but with more long term stability will be a couple tensioner kits...

Put them where the green lines are :
1663287099372.png


I've done this to realign wooden gates where the frame starts to sage with gravity. It's like a boob job for your wife once her nipples get to her belly button, pulls em right back into place.
 
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Intrinsic

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OK, what you need here to do your wood frame idea but with more long term stability will be a couple tensioner kits...

Put them where the green lines are :
View attachment 433471

I've done this to realign wooden gates where the frame starts to sage with gravity. It's like a boob job for your wife once her nipples get to her belly button, pulls em right back into place.
That’s a cool idea. I may get material this weekend and will go ahead and look at the Amazon option. I know that there were other “brand name” versions too.

Wasn't 100% sure if that deserved a Word or a Thumbs Up.
 

BrutulTM

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I'll offer a slightly different perspective from when I remodeled my 1st floor that included kitchen, living room, 1/2 bath, hallway. It was initially split tile / hardwood between the kitchen and living areas. When the water damage ruined the hardwood it "had to" all be replaced. I tested a few different surfaces and eventually went with LVT. Admittedly it isn't ceramic tile or the exact materials being discussed. The look didn't end up being the problem.

It was the feel. Maybe it was 40 years of acclimating to what certain surfaces feel like under my feet either barefoot, socks, or shoes. The feel of the LVT couldn't match the hardwood or the tile. I found it uncomfortable to walk on. Not for any, I guess, real reason other than it wasn't what I was used to. It looked wonderful, was easy to clean, durable. Even with the cork backing and a new subfloor. Of course, it also handled hot and cold different than the original hardwood and tile so that kept things strange. It also made the house sound different. It was very open floor plan so most of the surface was the floor.

Just small kind of irregularities that I wasn't used to. If I had to do it over again, for a personal space, it would be hardwood, tile, or carpet depending on the area. Probably. Never say never. For a rental or a flip house, no one would know the difference because they have no history or basis. It certainly didn't hurt my house selling in like 5 days with multiple offers.

Wow. I think the vinyl is much nicer to walk on. Not hard or cold like tile. To each their own I guess. I know I have a better chance of dropping a plate without breaking it at least!
 
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mkopec

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Wood for me all the way. Fuck tile. Easy to put down, dont need to do crazy underlayment like cement board and other bullshit to stabilize the floor. All you need is a miter saw backing paper and a flooring nailer. I did my entire kitchen and dining area with nice wide oak pre finished planks I got at home cheapo for like $1000. They had the shit on special. I bought so much of it, overkill I still have 3 full boxes in the basement. I took 2 days off from work and did it all.

I also redid my entire fucking house with a sander, took all the carpet out and room by room redid all the floors, which were nice virgin oak. Took a whole summer but so glad I did. Only room we have carpet in now is the family room where we hang out. Used a waterborne floor finish, like 10 coats of the shit and they look primo. Rented the sanding shit from home cheapo, cost next to nothing, maybe $300-$400 along with the sand paper.

In my first house I got a special deal on some tile and did my entire kitchen and dining room that was adjoined with tile. The cement board alone took fucking foerever with 10,000 screws, then the shitty jopb of laying down the tile, grout....On your fucking knees all day....Then about a year later my dishwasher sprang a leak and all the fucking tiles around it cracked once anyone stepped on them when the underlayment was all wet. I had to go and replace like 15 or so tiles. then my kid dropped my 10lb MAG lite, remeber those monstrocities with like 5 D cells in them? Yeah cracked and chipped another one. Maybe in the bathrooms that get wet, but thats the extent of tile for me.
 

Captain Suave

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Rented the sanding shit from home cheapo

Not saying anything about your execution, but basically every house I've been in where people DIY'd wood floors there were divots fucking everywhere from misusing the sander. Weekend warriors beware.
 

Fucker

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Wood for me all the way. Fuck tile. Easy to put down, dont need to do crazy underlayment like cement board and other bullshit to stabilize the floor. All you need is a miter saw backing paper and a flooring nailer. I did my entire kitchen and dining area with nice wide oak pre finished planks I got at home cheapo for like $1000. They had the shit on special. I bought so much of it, overkill I still have 3 full boxes in the basement. I took 2 days off from work and did it all.

I also redid my entire fucking house with a sander, took all the carpet out and room by room redid all the floors, which were nice virgin oak. Took a whole summer but so glad I did. Only room we have carpet in now is the family room where we hang out. Used a waterborne floor finish, like 10 coats of the shit and they look primo. Rented the sanding shit from home cheapo, cost next to nothing, maybe $300-$400 along with the sand paper.

In my first house I got a special deal on some tile and did my entire kitchen and dining room that was adjoined with tile. The cement board alone took fucking foerever with 10,000 screws, then the shitty jopb of laying down the tile, grout....On your fucking knees all day....Then about a year later my dishwasher sprang a leak and all the fucking tiles around it cracked once anyone stepped on them when the underlayment was all wet. I had to go and replace like 15 or so tiles. then my kid dropped my 10lb MAG lite, remeber those monstrocities with like 5 D cells in them? Yeah cracked and chipped another one. Maybe in the bathrooms that get wet, but thats the extent of tile for me.
I like wood, but for me there is a limit. House I just bought has almost all oak floors downstairs and it feels a bit monolithic because there's oak everywhere.. It has oak tile in the entry that I will replace with stone tile or something else. For some odd reason, they put in granite tile in the master bedroom. Still can't figure that one out.
 

mkopec

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Not saying anything about your execution, but basically every house I've been in where people DIY'd wood floors there were divots fucking everywhere from misusing the sander. Weekend warriors beware.
I had one in the first bedroom I did with the sander. Which I never used before. Dont take a genius to figure the shit out. Keep it moving and you get none of that shit. Nice and straight lines along the grain. I mean if youre a retard dont do it, I guess, lol. The thing these days is you have all these youtube channels of pros actually showing you step by step how you do it. Its like a free education. ITs been like 10 yrs since I did mine and they are holding up nice.

First is the refinished hallway. Also here you can see the other problem with tile that I also laid myself. Thats my front door entrance which the retards before me had fucking WHITE ass carpet. One month of this and the kids in the house the shit was gray, lol. SO it had to be removed ASAP. But anyway you see the step thats caused by tile? Yeah add in 1/4 in cement backer, then the tile youre already like 1/2 inch higher or more than the floor height. Also thats 10 yrs of high traffic area and it still looks pristine. I kept it natural no stain with just the finish over the top. Maybe I should have stained it? but I like the natural wood color. Its a stark contrast from that yellow brown shit they had before.

Second is the pre-finished wider plank shit I put down in the kitchen and dining area. Notice again the height, again with the same tile from the entrance way. Thats 3/4 thick planks so it comes close to be the same level, maybe a few 1/16th off but hardly noticeable.
B8E2A739-E618-453A-BB45-15B039B5CDE2.jpeg8A23C8C1-499C-4D22-8026-BC9AC8D49343.jpeg
 
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Haus

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That’s a cool idea. I may get material this weekend and will go ahead and look at the Amazon option. I know that there were other “brand name” versions too.

Wasn't 100% sure if that deserved a Word or a Thumbs Up.
TBH, You can get the individual parts and pieces at Home Depot or Lowe's probably cheaper than that kit. It's just what I found on Amazon.
 

Lanx

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fall is coming, what are ppls thoughts on
1. bagging/composting leaves
2. mulching
3.
giphy.gif


i've done bagging/composting and last year i also started mulching, b/c my tree is fucking huge

i have 2 geobins like this
c9e2c2e7004baf8b89e7c070acc505b1.jpg

(thats actually 4cu yards, 800gallons), and w/ my leaves being sucked up and shredded it was overfilled, and that was not counting the backyard trees either

while i don't think i'll be burning the leaves, i do burn a lot of my amazon cardboard (to make ash for the compost pile)
 

Intrinsic

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I enjoy raking and bagging the leaves but wouldn't hate figuring something else out. Didn't try mulching last year but mowing with a bag didn't pick up nearly as many as I would have thought. The "sucking" of the mower is probably much less effective than just spinning it around and chopping.

Need to set up the side of my house as a compost, it seems like prime real estate.

The leaves don't even concern me nearly as much as the 1 billion gallons of acorns that my huge oak tree dumps right in the middle. Almost want to put a net around the whole thing 10' up to catch them except that would just turn in to Mar A Lago for squirrels and birds and instead of acorns on the ground it would be piles of turds.
 

Daidraco

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Landscaping company has been handling my yard for as long as Ive had one. Liked living in a condo in my younger years for that very reason.

I know that they have to put fertilizer at intervals because they take the clippings away during the summer season and the leaves away in the fall. Are you guys with compost heaps redistributing it in the yard.. or?...
 

Lanx

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Landscaping company has been handling my yard for as long as Ive had one. Liked living in a condo in my younger years for that very reason.

I know that they have to put fertilizer at intervals because they take the clippings away during the summer season and the leaves away in the fall. Are you guys with compost heaps redistributing it in the yard.. or?...
i have a tiny side garden but honestly i use it to fill up holes/divots in my front yard, a wheelbarrow full of compost is like 80lbs? maybe 100 if you almost tip it over and it barely evens out anything for me.
 

BrutulTM

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I toured a place this summer that is composting waste from a slaughterhouse. Basically blood, guts, and bones by the truckload. By the time I saw it there was just nice rows of dark brown dirt but with bones sticking out all over the place but I bet it's pretty gory at times. They had a big machine like this one to turn it...


They said that thing can fling bones like 300 yards so you don't want to be standing around behind it when they're turning the windrows.
 
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Lanx

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I enjoy raking and bagging the leaves but wouldn't hate figuring something else out. Didn't try mulching last year but mowing with a bag didn't pick up nearly as many as I would have thought. The "sucking" of the mower is probably much less effective than just spinning it around and chopping.

Need to set up the side of my house as a compost, it seems like prime real estate.

The leaves don't even concern me nearly as much as the 1 billion gallons of acorns that my huge oak tree dumps right in the middle. Almost want to put a net around the whole thing 10' up to catch them except that would just turn in to Mar A Lago for squirrels and birds and instead of acorns on the ground it would be piles of turds.
yea you don't bag much leaves w/ a mower b/c you pulverize the leaves so much before it gets sucked up into the bag, youre practically just mulching anyway if the leaves are dead.

if the leaves just fell and it's moist/wet then you'll get a lot of clumping and leaves in bag actually
 
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matsb84

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Anyone have any experience/opinions on getting a UV light installed for an air handler? We're in Florida, so higher than normal humidity and more likelihood of growth (mold etc) on the coils and such.

Sounds like we would be going through UV lightbulbs every 1-2 years and they're somewhat expensive. No clue if thats a better option over just maintaining it another way. Assume we'd still need to do maintenance on it anyhow and that would probably include cleaning.
 

lurker

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Anyone have any experience/opinions on getting a UV light installed for an air handler? We're in Florida, so higher than normal humidity and more likelihood of growth (mold etc) on the coils and such.

Sounds like we would be going through UV lightbulbs every 1-2 years and they're somewhat expensive. No clue if thats a better option over just maintaining it another way. Assume we'd still need to do maintenance on it anyhow and that would probably include cleaning.
Have you talked to your neighbors to see what they do?
 

Fogel

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Anyone have any experience/opinions on getting a UV light installed for an air handler? We're in Florida, so higher than normal humidity and more likelihood of growth (mold etc) on the coils and such.

Sounds like we would be going through UV lightbulbs every 1-2 years and they're somewhat expensive. No clue if thats a better option over just maintaining it another way. Assume we'd still need to do maintenance on it anyhow and that would probably include cleaning.

I don't know anyone in Florida with UV, but we're NE florida. And even though the bulbs say they're good for 1 year, they slowly start losing their strength from the moment you start running them, so after half a year even if they're still running its only at 50% or so of effectiveness.